#IStandWithAhmed (or Inventing While Muslim is a thing?)

[angelo]

If I were in charge of the security forces, I'd have the whole family investigated. The father has deleted his Arabic Facebook page only after he realised that it would come under scrutiny!

If you were in charge of the security forces, I would be fucking terrified. I would probably try to assassinate you myself.

 

[skepticalbip]

It wasn't cited as the reason that I have heard but neither has it been cited as the reason for the other thousands of arrests that I have heard.

However, after this case exploded in the media the governor of Texas in an interview did say that everything was handled properly because Texas has a zero tolerance policy to assure that it was.... whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

You can rail against ZT all you want. I might even join you. But ZT was not to blame for Ahmed's arrest. The police and the school Principal could have allowed him to return to his classes, and finished up their investigation of the pencil case clock without breaking out the jackboots. They had a choice, and they made it.

Another assertion based on the idea that ZT policies are reasonable.

Okay, it's time for you to link to the ZT policy in question, and to a direct quote in which a member of the police, school administration, or other official involved with the case cited it as the reason for the arrest and/or 3 day suspension. I think you're conflating one cause of authoritarian overreach with another, but I'll read whatever you post.

Reread. I said that I didn't hear the school or police report ZT as the cause of this arrest or any of the other arrests of students in schools they have made across the US. They just report the thing that the student did.

But it is ZT policy that does not allow for any judgement in punishment for any infraction no matter how minor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_(schools)

A zero-tolerance policy in schools is a policy of punishing any infraction of a rule, regardless of accidental mistakes, ignorance, or extenuating circumstances.

This was adopted supposedly so that everyone always gets the same punishment to avoid accusations of racism, sexism, bigotry, etc. A rule broken requires a specified punishment, no exceptions, no judgement, no excuses.

 

[laughing dog]

But it is ZT policy that does not allow for any judgement in punishment for any infraction no matter how minor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_(schools)

A zero-tolerance policy in schools is a policy of punishing any infraction of a rule, regardless of accidental mistakes, ignorance, or extenuating circumstances.

Judgment is used in determining whether an action is an infraction. So ZT does permit judgment. That does not mean ZT is reasonable.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Not a word here about the brats father having two Facebook accounts, one in Arabic and preaching most likely hate the infidels, another in English exposing his duplicity.

This is the first I've heard this--got links?

- - - Updated - - -

Not a word here about the brats father having two Facebook accounts, one in Arabic and preaching most likely hate the infidels, another in English exposing his duplicity.

No one here speaks Arabic.

Google does, albeit quite imperfectly.

 

[Jayjay]

The police knew there was no bomb, and they knew there was no hoax. They arrested Ahmed because they believed his device could have been used in a bomb hoax. Chief Boyd had no answer to the question of why Ahmed was arrested for a possible future use for his clock without any evidence he had ever thought of using it that way, why he wasn't allowed to call his parents, and why he was unaccompanied by a parent in the juvenile detention center as wanted and is entitled to be.

A kid brings a device to school that looks like a bomb, that he knows looks suspicious, and shows it in every class despite at least one teacher's suggestion not to do so, until someone confiscates it and calls the police. Kid has no explanation why he made it.

Not true. He had an explanation. He made it because he thought it was cool, and he wanted to show his teacher what he could do.

It doesn't matter that his explanation did not satisfy the adults in the room. Fourteen year old kids (and plenty of grown-ups for that matter) do things 'just because', and that's all there is to it.

We don't know what he said to the cops apart from "it's a clock". In particular, we don't know if he said he thought it was cool, or that he wanted to show his teacher what he could do. That's just stuff he said afterwards to the media. We already know he knew it looked suspicious, so why did he keep bringing it to every class and showing it to teachers? "Just because" is only another way of saying that it was a prank.

We know beyond a reasonable doubt he kept telling the cops it was a clock even though they kept suggesting it might be used for another purpose. And we know it was indeed a clock.

We know beyond a reasonable doubt he brought it to school to show it to his teacher, and that he did show it to him.

We know beyond a reasonable doubt the teacher told him to not show it to the other teachers, and the evidence suggests this was because his engineering teacher knew it would make the other teachers nervous.

We know beyond a reasonable doubt that Ahmed did not show it to any other teachers until it made noise in English class, and the English teacher wanted to know what was beeping. We know beyond a reasonable doubt that Ahmed showed the English teacher the device, explained that it was a clock, and told her about how he had put it together.

We know beyond a reasonable doubt that nothing Ahmed said or did was done with the intention of making others believe he had a bomb, and that in fact, no one thought the thing was a bomb, or that he was hoaxing them.

Some of those things we know, but some we don't know "beyond reasonable doubt". He did say it was a clock, but he did not bring it to school to show his teacher but teachers in plural. There is not much evidence to suggest that he did it to impress any particular teacher, in fact the only story I've seen that even mentions the "engineering teacher" is the original Dallas Morning News report that kicked it off. Do they even have engineering as a subject in high school? Ahmed did mention in an interview with Al Jazeera that there were two teachers, which is probably true, but that's just because the english teacher confiscated the device before he could show it to anyone else.

There are reports from multiple reputable news outlets that Ahmed brought the clock to school to show to his engineering teacher. For example, the BBC reported:

Ahmed said that he had made a clock at home and brought it to school to show his engineering teacher.

He said his engineering teacher had congratulated him but advised him "not to show any other teachers".

The teenager said another teacher became aware of it when the device beeped during the lesson.

"She was like - it looks like a bomb," he said.

That BBC report seems to quote the original Dallas Morning News story, as it uses exactly the same wording. And this is in fact the only one place where I've seen the engineering teacher being explicitly mentioned: None of Ahmed's interviews that I've seen says there was an engineering teacher, just that he brought it to show to his teachers in general. It looks like to me that the reporter who broke the story made a generous interpretation of Ahmed wanting to impress a specific teacher rather than just showing the clock in every class.

Only two teachers saw the clock - his engineering teacher (Ahmed was taking a robotics class) and his English teacher. The engineering teacher saw it because Ahmed brought it to class to show him. The English teacher became aware of it when it started beeping in her class.

The first point is false. Ahmed was not taking a robotics class, he was in a robotics club in middle school. There was no such club or class in his new school. The second point about teacher being aware of it is fuzzy at best. We know the device started beeping during class when Ahmed deliberately set the alarm to show his class mate, and Ahmed pulled the plug, but it's unclear whether the teacher asked about it or if Ahmed showed it to her anyway after class.

These may be minor details, but in the reporting of the event twisting or omitting such details can make a huge difference.

We also know beyond reasonable doubt that despite the first teacher advicing against showing it to anyone, and despite knowing that the device looked suspicious, Ahmed plugged it in during class and set the alarm to show his class mate (according to what Ahmed said to Al Jazeera). We don't know if the English teacher had asked to see the device or if Ahmed volunteered to show it to her again after class. Ahmed's stories are also somewhat contradictory.

We don't know beyond reasonable doubt what Ahmed told the teacher about his reasoning, or "how he had put it together", much less why. In fact, Ahmed has not given a truthful answer about how he put the device together in any of the interviews he's had (that he just took the innards of an alarm clock and stuffed them in a box), so it's unlikely he would have done so at the school either.

And yet some people are convinced he was pulling a prank, that he's a master strategist, and also retarded.

It does have the characteristics of a prank. It could have been a honest attempt at impressing the teachers, but it's not hard to see how showing a device that looks like a suitcase bomb to an english teacher might have been taken the wrong way.

The clock has the characteristics that make it useful as a means of pranking someone. So do buckets, salt shakers, and Mountain Dew. But to have the characteristics of an actual prank, there has to be an attempt to deceive, scare, or provoke a response the pranker intends to provoke. That's what's missing.

I'm not sure if even Ahmed knew exactly what kind of reaction he intended to get. It's already established that it was a pretty lame "invention" from engineering point of view. Why is it hard to believe that it was a lame prank also? He's neither a master clockmaker nor a master prankster.

Ahmed told everyone who saw it that it was a clock. He told anyone interested in knowing how he put it together. There was no prank, no hoax, no lie, no deception. He told them the truth, but for whatever reason, not all of the listeners accepted that. His English teacher thought it looked like a bomb, the Principal apparently agreed with her, and the cops thought it looked like something that could be used in a bomb hoax. The cops pressured him to agree, but they had no particular reason to think he thought of it the same way they did, and neither do we.

You keep repeating that "he told anyone interested in knowing how he put it together". No, he hasn't. It was bloggers on the internet who reverse engineered the clock and figured it was a 1980s Radio Shack alarm clock, none of that info came from Ahmed. He's been rather evasive when it comes to discussing the clock, I think the closest he's come up with is that it was done from "scrapped parts" or "things around the house".

We aren't midn readers and can't really know for sure what the hell was going on in Ahmed's mind... and that's fine, kids do stupid stuff and can't be expected to think things through. But what we can tell is that from the police officers' point of view, the device could have reasonably looked like it was intentionally made to resemble a suitcase bomb, and we also know that Ahmed isn't the best communicator so it's not hard to believe that his nervousness could come off as uncooperative.

 

[Nexus]

I said I had more evidence of you being an attention whore than you have of Ahmed being one.

Please present your evidence that I'm more of an attention whore. I'm afraid a few posts from me that disagree with you in a thousand plus thread is not very convincing so you will need other evidence. I suspect you're simply rambling and hurling anything at this point.

 

[Arctish]

I said I had more evidence of you being an attention whore than you have of Ahmed being one.

Please present your evidence that I'm more of an attention whore. I'm afraid a few posts from me that disagree with you in a thousand plus thread is not very convincing so you will need other evidence.

No, it's not that you disagree with me. That has nothing to do with it.

I have evidence you've sought to call attention to your views, interests, and opinions over the course of 11 years and 16,000 posts, and that there exist at least 10 threads you've started for that purpose. I have evidence you talk to friends and strangers alike on social media, and you actively seek their attention and feedback. Whereas the evidence Ahmed is an attention whore comes from his bringing a case modded clock to school to show his teachers, anticipating their reaction would have been positive and flattering, and his willingness to discuss their actual response with friends and strangers alike on social and news media over the last couple of weeks.

So: 11 years and 16,000 posts vs. 2 weeks and what, a dozen interviews?

I suspect you're simply rambling and hurling anything at this point.

I suspect you prefer to dislike Ahmed, and are looking for anything that might be unlikable about him. I suspect the reason is you don't want to grapple with the actual issue, or acknowledge that it doesn't matter if he's an attention whore, the actions of the school authorities and the police would still be unjustified.

 

[Arctish]

There are reports from multiple reputable news outlets that Ahmed brought the clock to school to show to his engineering teacher. For example, the BBC reported:

Ahmed said that he had made a clock at home and brought it to school to show his engineering teacher.

He said his engineering teacher had congratulated him but advised him "not to show any other teachers".

The teenager said another teacher became aware of it when the device beeped during the lesson.

"She was like - it looks like a bomb," he said.

That BBC report seems to quote the original Dallas Morning News story, as it uses exactly the same wording. And this is in fact the only one place where I've seen the engineering teacher being explicitly mentioned: None of Ahmed's interviews that I've seen says there was an engineering teacher, just that he brought it to show to his teachers in general. It looks like to me that the reporter who broke the story made a generous interpretation of Ahmed wanting to impress a specific teacher rather than just showing the clock in every class.

Only two teachers saw the clock - his engineering teacher (Ahmed was taking a robotics class) and his English teacher. The engineering teacher saw it because Ahmed brought it to class to show him. The English teacher became aware of it when it started beeping in her class.

The first point is false. Ahmed was not taking a robotics class, he was in a robotics club in middle school. There was no such club or class in his new school.

You're right about the robotics club in Middle School. But I took a look at the MacArthur High School web page, and followed the links to a pdf file of the course offerings. There is an elective class, Engineering Mathematics, that is open to freshmen:

Engineering Mathematics [ENGMATH 13036700]
Grades: 9-10 Credits: 1 I, M, N
Engineering Mathematics is a course where students solve and model robotic design problems. Students use a variety of
mathematical methods and models to represent and analyze problems involving data acquisition, spatial applications, electrical measurement, manufacturing processes, materials engineering, mechanical drives, pneumatics, process control systems, quality control, and robotics with computer programming.

I don't know if this was Ahmed's first period class where he showed his clock to the teacher, but if fits the descriptions, and it's likely a kid in the Middle School Robotics Club would be placed there.

The second point about teacher being aware of it is fuzzy at best. We know the device started beeping during class when Ahmed deliberately set the alarm to show his class mate, and Ahmed pulled the plug, but it's unclear whether the teacher asked about it or if Ahmed showed it to her anyway after class.

These may be minor details, but in the reporting of the event twisting or omitting such details can make a huge difference.

We also know beyond reasonable doubt that despite the first teacher advicing against showing it to anyone, and despite knowing that the device looked suspicious, Ahmed plugged it in during class and set the alarm to show his class mate (according to what Ahmed said to Al Jazeera). We don't know if the English teacher had asked to see the device or if Ahmed volunteered to show it to her again after class. Ahmed's stories are also somewhat contradictory.

We don't know beyond reasonable doubt what Ahmed told the teacher about his reasoning, or "how he had put it together", much less why. In fact, Ahmed has not given a truthful answer about how he put the device together in any of the interviews he's had (that he just took the innards of an alarm clock and stuffed them in a box), so it's unlikely he would have done so at the school either.

I saw an interview where he was sitting at his desk, and that's pretty much what he said. He said he took parts out of an old clock and installed them into a pencil case. What more is there to say?

And yet some people are convinced he was pulling a prank, that he's a master strategist, and also retarded.

It does have the characteristics of a prank. It could have been a honest attempt at impressing the teachers, but it's not hard to see how showing a device that looks like a suitcase bomb to an english teacher might have been taken the wrong way.

I'm not saying the English teacher was wrong to report it, or that the Principal was wrong to investigate it. But if no one thought it really was a bomb, and Ahmed never said or implied it was anything other than a clock, where does the hoax part come into the story?

It looks to me like the cops are the ones who brought that to the table, and when Ahmed kept insisting the thing was just a clock, they said he was "not forthcoming" about "other purposes" and arrested him.

The clock has the characteristics that make it useful as a means of pranking someone. So do buckets, salt shakers, and Mountain Dew. But to have the characteristics of an actual prank, there has to be an attempt to deceive, scare, or provoke a response the pranker intends to provoke. That's what's missing.

I'm not sure if even Ahmed knew exactly what kind of reaction he intended to get. It's already established that it was a pretty lame "invention" from engineering point of view. Why is it hard to believe that it was a lame prank also? He's neither a master clockmaker nor a master prankster.

Because even the lamest of pranks requires an attempt to prank. If the person with a potential prank prop doesn't even bother to try using it that way, then there's no prank no matter how awesome the prop.

Ahmed told everyone who saw it that it was a clock. He told anyone interested in knowing how he put it together. There was no prank, no hoax, no lie, no deception. He told them the truth, but for whatever reason, not all of the listeners accepted that. His English teacher thought it looked like a bomb, the Principal apparently agreed with her, and the cops thought it looked like something that could be used in a bomb hoax. The cops pressured him to agree, but they had no particular reason to think he thought of it the same way they did, and neither do we.

You keep repeating that "he told anyone interested in knowing how he put it together". No, he hasn't. It was bloggers on the internet who reverse engineered the clock and figured it was a 1980s Radio Shack alarm clock, none of that info came from Ahmed. He's been rather evasive when it comes to discussing the clock, I think the closest he's come up with is that it was done from "scrapped parts" or "things around the house".

I don't think he's been evasive at all. I think he didn't pay any attention to the make or model of the old clock. I think all he cared about was that it was a source of useful parts. All the reverse engineering in the world isn't going to show he's trying to hide something he didn't bother looking at or remembering.

We aren't midn readers and can't really know for sure what the hell was going on in Ahmed's mind... and that's fine, kids do stupid stuff and can't be expected to think things through. But what we can tell is that from the police officers' point of view, the device could have reasonably looked like it was intentionally made to resemble a suitcase bomb, and we also know that Ahmed isn't the best communicator so it's not hard to believe that his nervousness could come off as uncooperative.

Maybe so. But that's a good reason to involve his counselor and the school safety officers in a private discussion, not to take him out of school in handcuffs.

 

[Arctish]

Please present your evidence that I'm more of an attention whore. I'm afraid a few posts from me that disagree with you in a thousand plus thread is not very convincing so you will need other evidence.

No, it's not that you disagree with me. That has nothing to do with it.

I have evidence you've sought to call attention to your views, interests, and opinions over the course of 11 years and 16,000 posts, and that there exist at least 10 threads you've started for that purpose. I have evidence you talk to friends and strangers alike on social media, and you actively seek their attention and feedback. Whereas the evidence Ahmed is an attention whore comes from his bringing a case modded clock to school to show his teachers, anticipating their reaction would have been positive and flattering, and his willingness to discuss their actual response with friends and strangers alike on social and news media over the last couple of weeks.

So: 11 years and 16,000 posts vs. 2 weeks and what, a dozen interviews?

I suspect you're simply rambling and hurling anything at this point.

I suspect you prefer to dislike Ahmed, and are looking for anything that might be unlikable about him. I suspect the reason is you don't want to grapple with the actual issue, or acknowledge that it doesn't matter if he's an attention whore, the actions of the school authorities and the police would still be unjustified.

Oops. I just realized I did the math wrong. It should read:

11 years and 8,000 posts vs. 1 month and a dozen or so interviews.

 

[Nexus]

I have evidence you've sought to call attention to your views, interests, and opinions over the course of 11 years and 16,000 posts, and that there exist at least 10 threads you've started for that purpose. I have evidence you talk to friends and strangers alike on social media, and you actively seek their attention and feedback.

This is the most ridiculous definition of attention whore ever made. It basically includes everyone that has ever posted on the internet. I've never had a facebook or myspace or blog account. Maybe if I made multiple daily posts alerting people to my status you might have a point. Simply communicating doesn't make someone an attention whore. According to you I'm more of an attention whore that Fred Phelps afterall he's only protested a few dozen funerals and done 100's of interviews vs my 8000 message board posts over a decade.

Your argument is nothing more than a variation of Pee-Wee Herman's "I know you are but what is he."

I suspect you prefer to dislike Ahmed, and are looking for anything that might be unlikable about him. I suspect the reason is you don't want to grapple with the actual issue, or acknowledge that it doesn't matter if he's an attention whore, the actions of the school authorities and the police would still be unjustified.

I don't actually care about him or any other pseudo celebrity attention whore like balloon boy a few years back. My interests in discussing this is strictly because of people like you. People that bend over backwards to defend Muslims and fight the silly SJW fight against islamophobia.

 

[Arctish]

This is the most ridiculous definition of attention whore ever made. It basically includes everyone that has ever posted on the internet. I've never had a facebook or myspace or blog account. Maybe if I made multiple daily posts alerting people to my status you might have a point. Simply communicating doesn't make someone an attention whore. According to you I'm more of an attention whore that Fred Phelps afterall he's only protested a few dozen funerals and done 100's of interviews vs my 8000 message board posts over a decade.

I didn't say it was definitive proof. I said it was evidence.

Your argument is nothing more than a variation of Pee-Wee Herman's "I know you are but what is he."

I am comparing the amount of evidence in support of Position A with the amount of evidence in support of Position B in the hopes that the person taking Position A will see that his evidence is almost non-existent. Apparently it's not working.

I suspect you prefer to dislike Ahmed, and are looking for anything that might be unlikable about him. I suspect the reason is you don't want to grapple with the actual issue, or acknowledge that it doesn't matter if he's an attention whore, the actions of the school authorities and the police would still be unjustified.

I don't actually care about him or any other pseudo celebrity attention whore like balloon boy a few years back. My interests in discussing this is strictly because of people like you. People that bend over backwards to defend Muslims and fight the silly SJW fight against islamophobia.

Again the charge of attention whore is laid by a person who had gone to greater lengths over longer time to garner attention to himself and his opinions, only now is comes with a bonus round of ad hominem and calling me a nigger lover someone who bends over backwards to defend Muslims and a SJW.

So this really is about the kid being a Muslim, isn't it?

 

[Cycad]

Meanwhile in the Kingdom

Quote
Clockmaker aims to invent device that generates free electricity
Unquote

Wait till Saudi understands that this invention will ruin the fossil fuel economy of the kingdom.

 

[Jayjay]

There are reports from multiple reputable news outlets that Ahmed brought the clock to school to show to his engineering teacher. For example, the BBC reported:

Ahmed said that he had made a clock at home and brought it to school to show his engineering teacher.

He said his engineering teacher had congratulated him but advised him "not to show any other teachers".

The teenager said another teacher became aware of it when the device beeped during the lesson.

"She was like - it looks like a bomb," he said.

That BBC report seems to quote the original Dallas Morning News story, as it uses exactly the same wording. And this is in fact the only one place where I've seen the engineering teacher being explicitly mentioned: None of Ahmed's interviews that I've seen says there was an engineering teacher, just that he brought it to show to his teachers in general. It looks like to me that the reporter who broke the story made a generous interpretation of Ahmed wanting to impress a specific teacher rather than just showing the clock in every class.

Only two teachers saw the clock - his engineering teacher (Ahmed was taking a robotics class) and his English teacher. The engineering teacher saw it because Ahmed brought it to class to show him. The English teacher became aware of it when it started beeping in her class.

The first point is false. Ahmed was not taking a robotics class, he was in a robotics club in middle school. There was no such club or class in his new school.

You're right about the robotics club in Middle School. But I took a look at the MacArthur High School web page, and followed the links to a pdf file of the course offerings. There is an elective class, Engineering Mathematics, that is open to freshmen:

Engineering Mathematics [ENGMATH 13036700]
Grades: 9-10 Credits: 1 I, M, N
Engineering Mathematics is a course where students solve and model robotic design problems. Students use a variety of
mathematical methods and models to represent and analyze problems involving data acquisition, spatial applications, electrical measurement, manufacturing processes, materials engineering, mechanical drives, pneumatics, process control systems, quality control, and robotics with computer programming.

I don't know if this was Ahmed's first period class where he showed his clock to the teacher, but if fits the descriptions, and it's likely a kid in the Middle School Robotics Club would be placed there.

Good catch, that makes sense. But it would not explain why the engineering aspect of it was downplayed in the subsequent interviews, where Ahmed always uses either plural for "teachers" or "her" specificly for the english teacher (the engineering teacher was male).

The second point about teacher being aware of it is fuzzy at best. We know the device started beeping during class when Ahmed deliberately set the alarm to show his class mate, and Ahmed pulled the plug, but it's unclear whether the teacher asked about it or if Ahmed showed it to her anyway after class.

These may be minor details, but in the reporting of the event twisting or omitting such details can make a huge difference.

We also know beyond reasonable doubt that despite the first teacher advicing against showing it to anyone, and despite knowing that the device looked suspicious, Ahmed plugged it in during class and set the alarm to show his class mate (according to what Ahmed said to Al Jazeera). We don't know if the English teacher had asked to see the device or if Ahmed volunteered to show it to her again after class. Ahmed's stories are also somewhat contradictory.

We don't know beyond reasonable doubt what Ahmed told the teacher about his reasoning, or "how he had put it together", much less why. In fact, Ahmed has not given a truthful answer about how he put the device together in any of the interviews he's had (that he just took the innards of an alarm clock and stuffed them in a box), so it's unlikely he would have done so at the school either.

I saw an interview where he was sitting at his desk, and that's pretty much what he said. He said he took parts out of an old clock and installed them into a pencil case. What more is there to say?

If you are referring to this one, I disagree. He doesn't say that it was an old clock, just what the display looks like. If he gave that explanation to the cops, that'd already rather suspicious. And this is him giving an explanation in a clear state of mind after having thought about what happened: at the time, he was probably startled and not as coherent.

And yet some people are convinced he was pulling a prank, that he's a master strategist, and also retarded.

It does have the characteristics of a prank. It could have been a honest attempt at impressing the teachers, but it's not hard to see how showing a device that looks like a suitcase bomb to an english teacher might have been taken the wrong way.

I'm not saying the English teacher was wrong to report it, or that the Principal was wrong to investigate it. But if no one thought it really was a bomb, and Ahmed never said or implied it was anything other than a clock, where does the hoax part come into the story?

It looks to me like the cops are the ones who brought that to the table, and when Ahmed kept insisting the thing was just a clock, they said he was "not forthcoming" about "other purposes" and arrested him.

The clock has the characteristics that make it useful as a means of pranking someone. So do buckets, salt shakers, and Mountain Dew. But to have the characteristics of an actual prank, there has to be an attempt to deceive, scare, or provoke a response the pranker intends to provoke. That's what's missing.

I'm not sure if even Ahmed knew exactly what kind of reaction he intended to get. It's already established that it was a pretty lame "invention" from engineering point of view. Why is it hard to believe that it was a lame prank also? He's neither a master clockmaker nor a master prankster.

Because even the lamest of pranks requires an attempt to prank. If the person with a potential prank prop doesn't even bother to try using it that way, then there's no prank no matter how awesome the prop.

If the prank is as lame as "make an alarm clock look like a suitcase bomb and show it to everybody", that's exactly what he did. I'm not saying that such a prank was necessarily his intention, but it might as well have been.

 

[thebeave]

The 2015 Ahmed Mohammed Clock Inventor Tour Continues!

Now he's in Sudan, meeting with the country's leader, Omar al-Bashir:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34551890

The Sudan leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, which he denies.

Ahmed said he was pleased to meet the president and vowed to return one day with a new invention, according to the radio broadcast.

In case you want to read what a fine outstanding leader al-Bashir is, you can read about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir

The kid still thinks he's inventing stuff.

 

[angelo]

What a warped mind! Deliberate or lying in Islam for the cause isn't really telling porkies!

 

[Jayjay]

The 2015 Ahmed Mohammed Clock Inventor Tour Continues!

Now he's in Sudan, meeting with the country's leader, Omar al-Bashir:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34551890

The Sudan leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, which he denies.

Ahmed said he was pleased to meet the president and vowed to return one day with a new invention, according to the radio broadcast.

In case you want to read what a fine outstanding leader al-Bashir is, you can read about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir

The kid still thinks he's inventing stuff.

I think this makes sense. Both Omar and Ahmed are accused of heinous crimes which they deny, both of them have interest in space, and are clearly inventive minds.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The 2015 Ahmed Mohammed Clock Inventor Tour Continues!

Now he's in Sudan, meeting with the country's leader, Omar al-Bashir:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34551890

The Sudan leader is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur, which he denies.

Ahmed said he was pleased to meet the president and vowed to return one day with a new invention, according to the radio broadcast.

In case you want to read what a fine outstanding leader al-Bashir is, you can read about him here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir

The kid still thinks he's inventing stuff.

And now he's moving to Qatar. One of the big players in sponsoring terrorism.

 

[GenesisNemesis]

I think this makes sense. Both Omar and Ahmed are accused of heinous crimes which they deny.

Just a heads up, when people are accused of crimes, generally they deny them.

 

[Arctish]

So.... I take it no one wants to discuss how the police should handle high school students who commit non-crimes, or how schools should deal with mild non-conformity. You all just want to continue bashing a 14 year old for acting like a juvenile, and get in a few good anti-Muslim licks while you're at it.

Alrighty, then. Have fun. Just don't come around crying when it's one of your preferred group that's being shat upon for being a member of a particular religious community.

 

[angelo]

This kid has tasted celebrity, his 15 minutes of fame. Obama met with him in private. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall.
Would he have met this kid had he not been a moslem?